צ Church Political Influence in Scotland. The Scottish Sunday Herald reports that Scottish politicians think the Church of Scotland and the Roman Catholic Church are influential.
They were taking part in Glasgow University research into the political
influence wielded by Scotland’s main churches. Only 5% of those who
responded thought the Catholic church was "not influential", compared
with 13% for the Church of Scotland and 74% for the Episcopal Church.
Although there was a strong sense of church influence, MPs and MSPs were
unwilling to admit that they might personally be swayed.
Martin Steven, who recently completed a doctoral thesis on the subject, found "a fundamental contradiction" in the lawmakers’ view of the churches. "A clear majority say they weren’t personally influenced and that they wouldn’t dream of coming to a view because a church told them to. But asked: ‘Do you think your colleagues are influenced?’, their answer was a clear yes."
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